You must of been a beautiful baby!

October 13, 1970...Nathan Winfield Von Duyke arrived on the scene and my life would never be the same! Four days in an incubator with only quiet and a nice warm place to stay. I was frantic. A new baby, and I couldn't hold him! Nathan was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his nect. So he needed to be kept quiet and safe so he could make adjustment to the outside world.

Well he did and as you can see, he grew up to be a wonderful good looking man!

(Shown at left the day he was born, below right with "Grandma Neta", below left last year on Mother's Day at Brunch, and below with Daniel in mid-summer this year when he had gotten his first short hair cut after 20 years!

Happy Birthday Son! Love you, Mom

How did you spend Sunday night?

I have had the same song playing in my brain over and over again for the last several days.
The country song that is new on the charts, can't remember who sings it, but there is a line that goes "It's not the breathes you take, the breating in and out, but the moments that take your breath away"!

Yes it is. Tim was supposed to leave for Pa. Sunday afternoon. He had been working in the yard, readying it for the winter when he stopped for a few minutes and said "I should leave for Pa., I need to deliver by Tuesday morning, but I feel guilty not spending some time with Daniel today. (Daniel had come in the morning as Kevin had to make an emergency drive down to Lexington, to drive the motor home back home. Sarah was too sick to drive back from the World Equestrian Games). I had been gone announcing a horse show since Thursday and arrived back home Sunday early afternoon.

Well, Tim and I talked and the photos below show what he decided to do.

A "take your breath away" moment!

Monarch V (Huckleberry Bey X Moska)

I have had a love affair with this Arabian stallion for a very long time.

I first met him at his home in St. Clairsville, Ohio when then owner Mike Ladyga invited me to his farm to visit and see the horses. The bright bay stallion was lead out of his stall and into the indoor arena. Mike took Monarch's halter off and the horse took off at a high rate of speed. Circling the arena, trotting, prancing and showing off like he was giving an audition. I knew I was in the presence of greatness.

He was bold yet gentle. He was not considered "large" for an Arabian, but his attitude projected his stature another two hands tall. It was love at first sight!

I had the pleasure of seeing him perform in a halter class at the Buckeye Show one year, with the Stachowski Training Farm staff at the lead. He was spectacular to say the least!

He was a prominent sire. He sired the filly "Lucsious Lorraine" that Sarah bred, trained and showed to the Sport Horse National Carriage Driving Turnout Champion last September, as well as her full sister "Peekaboo Larue". He also was the sire of my first Monarch filly, "Monarch Butterfly".

I lost track of him for a few years but found him again in Columbus at a horse Show. He was there with his new owners, Doug and Carrie Schane.

As Carrie will tell you, she never dreamed in a million years that she would ever own a horse of this caliber. The story of how Carrie came back together with Monarch is fairytale like at best. Ultimately, Carrie found him in Florida, for sale and living at Rohara Arabians.

Monarch came home to Schane Show Horses stables in Adena, Ohio and lived there until just a few weeks ago. He suffered a bad attack of laminitis, surgery, rehab etc., but in the end, he could no longer endure the pain and the disintegration of his hooves.

The painful and tearful decision was made to relieve his pain and end his suffering. He was buried next to the barns and his burial mound is covered with mulch, beautiful colorful mums and shrubs.

I visited his grave last week. It took me a long time to build up the courage to drive to Adena and say goodbye.

Goodbye dear friend. I will remember the beautiful dark eyes that would look deep into my soul.

Somewhere over the great divide, beyond the furthest shore, the beloved Monarch V has taken his final ride and found peace at Heaven's door.

A real pie in the sky!

Yesterday was too cool to work outside and not warm enough inside to not turn on the oven. I had a bag of Northern Spy apples to use up so I made some "from scratch" pie crust with lard. Peeled the apples and added the spices and other ingredients. Started to pile them up in the pie shell and realized there were just too many!

Oh well, I piled them up anyway, placed the top crust on and put that tall baby into the oven.

I usually bake a pie on 425 degrees for 20 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350 degrees after that. It took 15 additional minutes to bake this puppy due to the height of it.

But, as you can see, it turned out okay! Neighbors had pie and ice cream for dessert last night and they seemed to like it!

I will still adjust the crust recipe or tweak it a little. Not as flakey as the crust Dene Pugh makes up in Canada, but then, she used more lard than I did, and she also just uses her hands to crumble the flour and lard together. She does it strictly by feel, so I have a way to go yet.

But for the first pie of the season.....it was pretty cute!

Between the Lines!

A lot of days have passed since October 1, 1965 leading up to October 1, 2010.

16,425 days to be exact!

Today is the first day of the next 45 years!

As Tim would say, "Forty-five long, laborious years......two of which weren't bad"!

What's the world coming too?

I just finished writing notes and addressing some note cards to
send to special people that needed to know I was thinking about
them today. Hand writing and addressing (I did "cheat" and use
my own personal return address labels though) and placing a
stamp on three different greetings to friends this morning.

It is with sadness that I have recently learned that in our school
system children are no longer taught "cursive" writing.

Can you imagine?
A whole new world out there that infers that the
people growing up in today's school system shall not be able to
"sign their name"!

I can't even imagine!

The Grapes of Wrath and other assorted novels

What a good idea! Let's make jelly out of the grapes that Daniel and I picked from our vines Sunday.

Yeah right!

One hour of picking. This was fun. Daniel sorted and placed them into the container and was quite happy to do it until the first bug appeared and jumped onto his pants! Bug Off!

Next, carry the containers into the house and wash and pick through the grapes. Dumb me, I separated the skins from the pulp and then placed them into a kettle to cook. 2 hours

Remove the pulp, skins and seeds via the food mill. What an old crank that is. 3/4 of an hour.

Next day, measure juice (20 cups). open box of SureJell and read directions. Oops, wrong directions. (Later).

Place 5 cups juice, 3 cups sugar and one package of pectin into kettle.

Heat until boiling, boil for 1 minute then transfer into clean, hot jars. (2 hours)

Repeat the 5 cup juice, 3 cup sugar and box of pectin one more time. (save the rest for tomorrow when Daniel can help make the jelly)

In the meantime, ladle into the jars, place caps and rings onto jars, secure tightly and place on surface to cool. Listen for the heartwarming pop!

(total time measuring, boiling, capping and lidding......4 hours)

Sugar: five pounds $3.29

jars: free, had them

lids: $1.89 per box

rings: Had them

Pectin: $2.59 times two

Day two. None of the jars of jelly jelled.!!!!!

Look up online how to remedy the problem.

Remedy........start over.

Uncap, pour into measuring cup (only 4 cups not 5 this time)

4 teaspons of pectin added and mixed to cold juice. ! cup sugar added to boiling juice, and

boil for 4 more minutes, stiring all the while. Oh, brush the kettle with butter and you will

get no foam to skim off).

Do the above process for three times, repeat and then wait for Daniel to come home from school to help with the final batch.

Yes, it all jelled.

Yes it was fun (at first)

Yes Daniel was tickled to help.

Yes he took his three jars of grape jelly home.

Yes it was worth it.

Cost per jar? Near as I can figure about $11.83!

Next craft fair you attend that has a booth selling home made jelly and jam for $4.50 per jar....................................grab it! What a deal!